So I watched and even live streamed ‘The Experience 12’ on Friday 1st December till dawn of Saturday 2nd December 2017, and I realised one simple truth.

Watching the event something caught my attention, The two main gubernatorial candidates of Lagos state in the last guber elections were sitted in the same event, on the same row. With no bad blood or their followers abusing each other on social media.

It was all smiles when each of them were recognized at the event and everything went smoothly without any political undertones attached to any part or session of the event.

Now relate this to Rivers State,
if this same event happened in Port Harcourt, Two things will most likely happen.

It’s either Gov. Wike may decline attendance because Rt.Hon. Amaechi is there or vice versa.

A second scenario may be that they both attend the event but their supporters will be on social media insulting themselves and their principals.

You’ll see posts like:
“Pastor Paul Adefarasin is a PDP man”,
“Pastor Paul Adefarasin is a covert APC man, why is he praying for Buhari?”,
“Wike used Rivers State money to sponsor The Experience 12”
“Pastor Paul Adefarasin is a political Pastor”
Etc.

These followers are the sole reason Rivers state is still politically charged as it is now, they fuel the crisis between two brothers for their own gain. The crumbs that come from being a social media attack dog is what they are after… after all, without the conflict there may not be any need for their services. So they even pray for more chaos between the two men so they can at least look like they have a job to do.

It is really worrisome that the average Rivers youth’s worth has been downgraded to this level. It is sad that as a Rivers youth, you are only needed to attack and insult perceived political opponents. The relevance of the average Rivers State youth in politics is now tied to their nuisance value to insulting opponents.

Hence, sycophantic parasites roam the corridors of these two gladiators hoping to show their principal evidence of their attacks on the other person, even worse, they take so much pride in it. But the reward for sycophancy will never go beyond petty appointments and crumbs.

The political divide in Rivers State has eaten too deep into our culture and everything we do, and we have allowed it to thrive.
Rivers youths should learn first the value of self worth and the power they have in deciding where the political pendulum swings(who wins what in the elections).
We must rise above this divide and learn to put Rivers State first instead of these politicians that do not care about us.

Boma N. Williams

(WilliamsBoma@gmail.com)

Writes from FCT, Abuja

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